The present invention is generally related to a method and apparatus for monitoring the characteristics of the current flowing in a power line conductor 1 under a normal or a faulted circuit condition.
Systems have been developed to indicate a power line conductor under a faulted circuit condition, and to report the characteristic to a receiver using radio transmissions.
One problem with such systems is that they can only indicate if a specific maximum single level “trip” current was exceeded. They cannot report any specific faulted circuit current levels or preset steps.
A further limitation is the time the present systems report the data. In a typical application, the data are transmitted for 4, 8, or 24 hours then they automatically reset and information is lost. The reset limitation is also due to limited battery life in the device and a requirement that low maintenance of the device on the power line is required typically 5 years or longer.